Busier Than All Get-out

Life seems a whirlwind these days. Let's start with yesterday ...

It was cool, windy and looked like rain. I just wasn't up for a run, or so it seemed. So after I'd gotten changed into my running clothes, drove in to work for a while. When I got home I decided I might as well do my daily mile since I was dressed for it. Well, I got going and thought I might as well at least go half way around the hill (4-5 miles). I'd contemplated doing hills but didn't feel like going to 10th St SW. So when I got to Briarcliff Rd off county 22 I decided to head over to the hill over there (Burncroft Rd) and run a few. I hadn't run hills here before but I had been up and over the hill past the Girl Scout camp a few times. It turns out the hill is exactly .25 miles from bottom to top with 117 feet of elevation gain. Very nice for doing repeats. I decided 10 would be good. I finished 10 and wasn't totally wiped out so did two more. After 12 I decided that was enough and headed home. There is one hill on the run over there and two on the way home so 15 hills for the morning. BTW: Fox Valley Drive on the west side is .40 miles from bottom to top and has 245 feet of elevation gain. A good workout. 10.30 miles. Glad I did it. :-)

Painted the hallway by the door to the garage after filling in the dings in the drywall. Need to give it a second coat today. Nothing like a freshly painted wall. There are 5 door openings in this space and lots of really tight spaces (4 strips of drywall in corners about 1" wide ... tough to paint). I also want to paint the service door to the garage today. Weather is supposed to be very nice. Also more outdoor projects ... more bark, more weeding, need a few more flowers. Also need to spray some weeds, cut out some dead branches from trees among other things.

This morning ... I was going to swim, but that workout (run, lift, swim, run) is too time consuming. My list of things to do is too long. So I'm going to run to work to get a few things done and then run home. Ann Moyer and I are going biking tonight. I only ask that she doesn't ride me into the ground ... :-)

Last night book club was very enjoyable. Left my camera at home unfortunately. We were out in the country near Elgin at Jill's home. It's beautiful out there.

Check out all the Team R.E.D. goings on on the Team R.E.D. blog. Lots of opportunites for running and/or socializing.

Tomorrow: Trash pick-up at 5:15 on Soldier's Field bike path. Ann-Kristin will be here visiting from Norway and will join us. Then if it's nice we'll head over to Twigs patio or another location if the weather doesn't cooperate. I'm also going to help set up the Running Room booth at the expo tomorrow evening.

I still haven't decided what I'll be doing at Chester Woods. Maybe 10 miles. Maybe 50K. Maybe volunteering. I better decide soon!

Running Room volunteer schedule for me: 5K course marshall Saturday 2:45 to 3:30, packet pick up 3:30 to 8, Sunday packet pick-up 5-7 AM, course marshal 7:50 to 9:50 and then over to the finish line. 3 post-race parties to attend as well. Going to fit in a long run in there somewhere. Maybe Friday morning with Jim Parry, maybe Saturday morning, maybe Monday morning ... I'll see how it goes.

The day looks to be beautiful. Enjoy.